Rotary suction-roll or vacuum couch-roll for use in paper-making machines.



, R. MARX.

ROTARY SUCTION ROLL 0R VACUUM COUCH ROLL FOR USB IN PAPER MAKING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED 00119, 1911.

1,09 1,941 .Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

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-UNrrED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

ROBERT MARX, 0F LONDON, ENGLAND.

ROTARY SUCTION-ROLL 0R VACUUM COUCH-ROLL FOR USE IN PAPER-MAKING MACHINES. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Application led October 19, 1911. Serial No. 655,521.

To all whom it may concern.' Be it known. that I, ROBERT MARX, engineer, a subject of Great Britain, residin at' 13B-139 Finsbury Pavement, London, ngland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in or Applicable to Rotary Suction-Rolls or Vacuum .Couch-Rolls for Use in Paper-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesl to improvements 1n or applicable to rotary suction rolls or vacuum couch rolls for use in paper making machines.

An object of the invention is to mount a stationary suction box having an open top within a perforated drum or cylinder in such a way that said box is immovable radially of said cylinder and nevertheless an eii'ective airtight joint is afforded between the interior of said cylinder and the edges bounding said open top.

Further objects are to provide antifriction bearings if desired'of a more or less fluid tight nature between said drum and said box, to improve the construction and arrangement of members which produce said airtight joint between said drum and suction box, and generally to provide an apparatus in which thc/suction box is prevented from being drawn against the drum so that any wear comes upon the joint making members and is distributed over a considerable area, the result being that less driving power is required, the vacuum is more efiiciently maintained, the wear parts are renewable in a simple manner and at low cost, and the power consumption by the pumps and the machine is considerably reduced. j

The invention is illustrated in the annexed drawings forming part of this speci- Fig. 6 is a section taken at right angles to the section in Fig. 5 and Fig. 7 is a 4 lan section taken on the line VII-VII of Flg. 5.

Referring to the drawings, a, a are. suitable standards or supports, and fixedly connected thereto, are hollow 'trunnions b, which form extensions of the central suction box c.

Z is a rotary drum mounted on the trunnions b in the manner hereinafter described.

The suction box c is providedwith an aperture e which communicates with the suction chamber proper, and f is a suction connection at the end of one of the hollow trunnions b for exhausting the air from the suction chamber through the suction box. The ends of the hollow trunnions are hermetically sealed by disks g, and these trunnions may be fixed in the supports by means of the set screws it, so as to permit the adjustment of the suction box to meet the various requirements. The sides of the s uction box are formed by a plurality of longitudinally extending bars which are seated in chambers m, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. These bars may be made in one piece, but I prefer to form them of a plurality of pieces, as illustrated in the drawings. Each of these members comprises the upper strip j, which is arranged to engage the inner periphery of the drum, and which is secured to a ram b, so that the entire bar is movable in a vertical direction in the chamber m to hold the upper face thereof in contact with the inner periphery of the drum. The.

ward position by means of a plurality of springs fw, seated in openings in the bottom of the holder, which bear against the bottom of the groove in the holder. Seated within this groove above the slider fv, is a packing member lo, which extends from side bar to side bar, and is held in contact with the inner periphery of t-he drum Z by means of the spring fw, which holds the slider in its I engage t elevated position; These packing strips 1c rmay be ofinverted U- shape in crosssection,

the limbs of the U extending downwardly and rest on the slider 'v in the groove in the holder p.

Connected to the lower end of each of the end members, is a longitudinally extending leather packing which is arranged to form a tight joint between the sides of the chamber m and the members forming the sides of the box. Vater under pressure is admitted to the spaces beneath these ackino members 0 through a pipe n to qiold the side members in their lelevated position.

YIt will readily be understood from the foregoino' ldescription that the side members he end members throughout the entire jheight of the side members, which will avoid any leakage between the sideand end members.- The packing strips c prevent i leakagebetween the end members andthe innery periphery of the drum, andas the side 4members are held in contact with the inner f jqeriphery of the drum by means of hydrau,

*Je-lielpressure, an air-tight joint will be formed between the drum and the side members.A

f Packing leathers are fitted along the sides and bottom edges of the holders p, being iixed thereon by the angle bars y', and

having for v'their purpose to prevent leakage of water or air past such holders into the vacuum or suction box c. At a point diafixed thereon, runs upon the antifriction bearings around the trunnions b. Such bearf ings may comprise rollers 3 running upon steel sleeves 4 fixed on the trunnions b and within a steel casing or bushing 5 which is connected with the drum d by a ring 6, preferably of cast iron, which is slidable between the drum d and casing 5 but is non-rotatable in relation therewith. The rollers 3 run between the 4end s acing rings 7 and the assembled'parts o the bearings are secured in place by a divided cast iron ring 17 which is interposed between the cover ring 8 and the bearing parts. Rings 9 are arranged to turn with the casing 5 and similar rings 10 are arranged betweenthe inner rings 9 and the flanges 11 on the trunnions and also between the outer rings 9 and sliding ringsv 12. In the spaces between the ends of the rings 6 and the rings 9 are inserted rolls 13 of sheet asbestos impregnated or covered with rubber and well greased, or any other suitable packing material and it will be seen that -by screwing up the bolts 14 the rings 12 will be forced inwardly' in the axial direction,

thereby compressing the rolls 13 and caus.

ing them to make a tight joint betweenrthe drum d and the casing 5. At the same time the axial pressure due to the screwing up of the bolts 14 does not set up undue riction owing to the presence of the `rings 9 and 10, Whichrrub against one another and take the wear, as well as preventing binding of the drum to the stationary partsl as might happen in the absence of these rings 9 and 10.

'Ity will be seen that in an apparatus'tted with these improvements, the iuid tight sliding joint between the drum and the suction box c is quite independent of the atchines of this type, was utilized to force these parts together when a vacuum was set up in the suction box c. Consequently, heretofore, if a high degree of vacuum were employed the suction box and drum were held together so tightly that the drum became practically inoperative. In other cases the high vacuum could not be maintained owing to faulty packing arrangements. Now in the improved arrangement the suction box o is absolutely prevented from moving out of concentricity with the drum d andthe formation `of the iiuid tight sliding joint is entirely due to the operation of the packing strips and bars j le, consequently the degree of vacuum employed may be as high as it is possible to obtain and nevertheless the power required for driving is reduced. In addition, the drying action is increased lby the higher degree of vacuum which can and may now be employed. s

It must be pointed out that it is important to provide means for preventing leakage between the holders p and the drum c and between the longitudinal packing strips j and the ends of the transverse packing strips lo and their holders p. Reference to Figs. 2 and 4 will show that the ends of the strips 7c fit nicely against the strips j and the upward pressure upon the strips y by the rams Z, not only causes the upper edges of the strips j to press tightly against the interior'of the drum, but, owing to the engagemospherie pressure which in previous mament of the curved surfaces of the strips y' and drum-(Z, there may be a tendency for the I In these circumstances the packing leathers which extend down the sides and along the bottom of the holder p, prevent such water and air from leaking past the holder into the suction box c. e

The roller bearing which preserves the concentricity of the drum al with the trunnions b and also facilitates the movement of the drum, is protected against the entry of water or liquor by the rolls of packing material 13 hereinbefore described and the tightness of the acking can beadjusted as desired through t e agency of the adjusting screws 14 and the axially slidable rings 12 and 6.

The invention is not confined to the use of a suction box of the particular cross section described, as other known forms can be substituted without departing from the invention. Y

The arrangement comprising hydraulic devices for forcing the longitudinal packing bars j upward and springs forV forcing the transverse strips or bars la upward, offers many practical advantages. The longitudinal bars being of great length require to be pressed upward with uniform pressure along their whole length and this uniform effect is attained by hydraulic means which are readily appliedl owing to the holders of the longitudinal strips or bars j being relatively immovable. As the transverse bars or strips lc are comparatively short, springs are effectively applied for operating upon such bars and, as the holders p are slidable, the use of springs obviates any difficulty which might be encountered in supplying hydraulic pressure to such slidable holders p.

The direct contact between the transverse packing members and the longitudinal strips is important for various reasons. Heretofore it was proposed to guide the longitudinal strips between xed walls both of which extended substantially to the inner face of the perforated drum, but which necessarily were 'sli htly spaced from said drum, in order to a ord necessary clearance. The transverse packing members operated against the inner faces of the inner walls. As a result there was a material amount of leakage over the edges of the inner guide walls and apparently eddy currents were formed which at the take-olf point of the roll caused variations in suction and consequent change of the take-ofil point. This was apt to cause the breakage of the sheet and at times non-uniform drying. By having direct contact between the transverse packing members and the longitudinal strips, the available suction with the consequent breaking of the sheet is eliminated. Fur- Y thermore, the eiciency of the apparatus is l increased and the useless leakage of air into the suction box is diminished.

1. A vacuum couch roll, having a suction chamber, a perforated drum surrounding said chamber, spaced longitudinal' packing strips formin the sides of said chamber, means for hol ing said strips in contact with the drum, transverse members forming the ends of said chamber, said transverse members contacting snugly with the longitudinal packing strips from the bottom of the chamber to the upper edges of said transverse members, there being tight joints formed between the bottom of the chamber and the end members and between the end members and the longitudinal packing strips, there being a transverse groove in the top of each end member, a transverse packing member seated v in the groove in each end member extending from one longitudinal packingstrip to the other longitudinal acking strip, there being a tight joint forme between said transverse packing and the drum, means for holding said transverse packing members in contact with the drum, said packing members and the longitudinal packing stripsA being arranged to move independently of each other,

vand means for moving said end members toward and from each other, substantially as described.

2. A vacuum couch roll having a fixed inner suction box capable of angular adjustment, a perforated drum rotatably mounted on the box, spaced longitudinal packing strips for maintaining the joints between the box and drum, pressure means for holding said strips in contact with the drum, transverse packing members located between the longitudinal strips andcompletely bridging the space between them, said pac ring members bein relatively adjustable toward and from eac other and each comprising a holder, packing mounted on the holder and engaging the drum, yielding means for maintaining the packing in contact wlth the drum and packing forming a tight joint between the holder and box yand permitting the adjustment of said holder.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto `set my hand in the presence of two wltnesses. ROBERT MARX.

f Witnesses.

" HERBERT D. JAMESON,

CLARENCE P.'LIDD0N. 

